10 Essential Mom Skills to Make Parenting Fun and Fulfilling
Forget about baking cookies, packing animal themed lunch boxes, flawlessly entertaining 20 kids at a birthday party and keeping a sparkling clean house.
These are the real mom skills you will use day in and day out.
We have very outdated and restrictive definition of what motherhood should look like. This course will help you see what skills, characteristics and mindsets moms who are really thriving have. Almost every skill is based around you and your mental health, not the kids.
I’ve spent years working with families in their homes and these are the foundations of what makes a great mom. It’s not just how much love them or how many incredible experiences you can provide.
You won’t learn about these in birthing class or even from your pediatrician. You can only find these in Pre-Parenting Counseling, Approaching Motherhood’s 6 week online course to help you emotionally prepare for motherhood. In fact this is a mini course with content directly from our main course, Pre-Parenting Counseling – Preparing for Life as a Happy Mom.
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Now is the time when you have to the head space, time and clarity to work on these. It’s much more difficult when you are in the trenches of parenting. Of course you will always being working on yourself and finding ways you can hone these skills in deeper ways.
This course is perfect if you are about to become a mom (pregnant, trying to conceive, adopting, etc) Or if you are already a mom and are struggling a bit to feel like you have it together.
These skills go deep below the level of time management and chore charts and help you feel grounded in your sense of self-worth and stay true to your identity. You’ll find that things like time management will flow more naturally once you have mastered your underlying issues.
The course takes about an hour to complete and comes with exercises and journal prompts to help you apply the skills you have learned.
+++Bonus Material+++You’ll also get a bonus of a free Mom Prep Journal and a discount on Approaching Motherhood’s other courses – Motherhood Meditations, and Pre-Parenting Counseling: Preparing for Life as a Happy Mom.
Hope to connect with you soon!
Jess
Pre-Parenting Coach
Approaching Motherhood.
Nice to Meet You. Let's Get Started
My story and what I can help you with.
jess@approachingmotherhood.com
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IG: approachingmotherhood
Mom Skills - What Great Moms Do Daily
Happy moms have certain skills that they work on and use everyday so that their motherhood experience is fun and fulfilling.
To be happy we have to really know ourselves. Know what you makes you happy and know what makes you cranky.
Do more of what makes you happy. Do less or learn to embrace what drains you.
When we know these things and stick to them, we can be our true-selves.
We all have masculine and feminine energy flowing in us.
Motherhood requires both. Masculine to get stuff done. Feminine to enjoy the moment.
We often are stronger in one energy.
Learn to be comfortable in both.
Feel enough so you don't go out of your way to earn love, approval and validation.
Stop trying to "earn your keep" or try to come off as having it all together. You are lovable just as you are.
Instead of aiming to be the "best mom" aim to be a "good enough" mom. Relax and enjoy life. Set an amazing example to your kids that they don't have to earn love and respect.
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It means making time for yourself and setting your life up so it works best for you.
We'll go over lots of examples of what putting yourself looks like.
It takes confidence, self-love, and self-esteem to make it happen.
More Resources:
Putting yourself first with babies can be tricky. Read this ###a class="external-link" href="http://postpartum.org/2014/08/learning-self-love/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">article
"conversations that bring me back to my early days of motherhood – when I was raw, vulnerable and emotional. I would hear the advice to put myself first by ”sleeping when the baby sleeps.” I remember being told, “Don’t hold her so much it tires you out,” or “ You need to have a break.” This only made me feel inadequate, as I thought I should be able to do it all.
My babies were not good sleepers; I was an anxious mom and carried my babies all the time. Taking the time to arrange a break seemed impossible to comprehend in my foggy-brained state. I had not yet learned that what I needed was to put myself first in a KIND and GENTLE way. I did start to learn this somewhere in those baby days, but it was a slow climb to this place of lowering my expectations, taking only what I wanted from well-intentioned others, and leaving the rest without feeling I was “less than” or did not measure up. A big part of putting myself first was stepping away from the “shoulds” I created for myself and instead focusing on what would be helpful. One of those steps forward was to ask for help clearly and directly from my husband and my family and friends. I had to take gentle baby steps in acknowledging I deserved support."
Self-care is the art of taking care of you - mentally, physically and spiritually.
It's important to learn what you need to put yourself in a better mood. This helps you keep your sanity, stay connected with yourself, enjoy life and be present.
Your kids will learn how to take care of themselves by watching you do it.
Learn how to tell when you are being "selfish" and when you are taking care of yourself. Numbing out vs Self-care
Create a self-care menu to refer to when you are feeling grumpy and need some suggestions.
“When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn’t healthy. This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs and habits- anything that kept me small. My judgment called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving.” – Kim McMillen
“You can’t live on baby love alone. As a mother you must learn to care for yourself as well as you care for them. If you don’t give generously to yourself- you will only have crumbs to give.” - Anna Leonhardt-Lupa
More Resources:
9 Self-Care Practices article by Renee Trudeau
One new mom's take on self-care and being enough:
"What taking care of yourself really means, is giving yourself permission to be wherever you are and to do whatever you're doing—without guilt and without pressure to do more or be more or have more."
How you feel about something is more important than what you do.
Intuition is expert parenting advice.
Follow your intuition or internal guidance to make decisions today and when you're a mom.
Develop your intuition by getting quiet and still so you can hear it.
Know what your intuition sounds like and feels like to you - a sense of "knowing," a loving voice in your head, a gut feeling.
Know the difference between intuition and fear. Fear might feel like butterflies, a tight chest, or nervous panic.
Make friends with your intuition now. Trust it and do what it says.
Help your kids develop their intuition by asking them how they feel about things and respecting it.
They will learn how to listen to themselves and not fall to peer pressure by watching you do the same.
Great parents make mistakes all the time.
Make a mistake - vow to do better next time - let it go
Don't overcompensate, act out of guilt or over apologize.
You'll be a better parent by being more present, not worried about the past or future, or focusing on what you haven't done for your kids.
It sets a great example for your kids on forgiving themselves and others.
Start practicing self-forgiveness today.
"Gentleness is the best whip" - unknown.
Being present is key to making your kids feel loved. It also makes your life so much fun.
Be present by living in the moment, not the past or future.
To have fun and enjoy your life you have be worry free, relaxed and in the moment.
“If mamma ain’t having fun, ain’t nobody having fun.”
“If you worry about what might be, and wonder what might have been, you will ignore what is.” ~Unknown
Be grateful and celebrate exactly where you are.
“Comparison is the thief of joy.” – Theodore Roosevelt
You have to have a team mind set to be a happy mom.
Start building your support team now. Needs to be more than your mom and partner.
Be comfortable asking for and receiving help. Let others feel joy from helping you.
Keep great friends is key. Clean house now from any friends who aren't supportive.
Become a student of child development. Read up on kids so you know what you can expect. Not so you can compare your kids to statistics.
Spend lots of time with kids to learn from them and get comfortable. You can read about them all day but hands-on experience is the best teacher.
Find role models that you like on social media, friends, family or even on TV.
++Bonus Material & Coupons++
Get 50% off our Motherhood Meditation Series.
As an extra thank you, you get a copy of Approaching Motherhood's Mom Prep Journal. A document full of journal prompts to help you go inside and explore your inner world before motherhood.
Coupon for Approaching Motherhood's 6 week online course.
